Thursday, September 16, 2010

Friday shootout:Flora, Fauna and critters

In Australia, my brother in law found this lorikeet on the roadside and it was being attacked by other birds. He rescued it and brought it home. We think that it had been a pet as it is very tame. Thomas thinks he is a pirate now with a parrot sitting on his shoulder.
In New Zealand, where there is plenty of rain and the climate mild, our fauna is lush, and flora plentiful.
Snakes made news in New Zealand and Singapore today.
We are glad that here in New Zealand, we have no snakes. We do have some trying to sneak in. Yesterday a 80cm snake was discovered by port officials in a shipping container of plants which had come from Guatemala.

Over in Singapore, a resident found a 3 meter long snake (python) in his apartment on the 13th floor of Nanyang Heights this very morning.

"It was 3:30 am we first found in the living room and the pest control guys came at 5:30 and eventually caught it. In the mean time, the policemen and campus security also came and helped us.

We are trying to figure out how the snake was able to break into this high floor apartment unit. We always make sure that the screen doors are closed. In any case it is hard to believe that such a huge snake could crawl up the wall up to the 13th floor. Another possibility is the drain holes in the bathrooms. The caps of the drains can always pop-up open if something like snakes push out from inside the pipes. Then it can move from house to house.... Still, largely a big mystery....

Given that we have two toddlers in my family, it was truly scary to see that python lurking in front of our bedroom."

Our theme for Sept. 17th will be...Flora, Fauna and/or Pets. So show us your wonderful shots of wild critters and wild plants(flora and fauna)around your town!
Maybe from a trip out to the woods or park in your area! Or if you are lucky in your own backyard!!

22 comments:

One of my cousin found a snake coiled up in her rolled up carpet which she put outside along the corridor after she aired it. The husband saw the tail end of the snake when he wanted to bring the carpet in, a few days before Hari Raya. The police was called and struggled to take the snake away. It was a rattlesnake!There's no forest nearby, wonder if the snake belonged to someone around the flat? I know it's illegal to keep exotic and dangerous animals as pet.

I really have no idea what the plants are ( in my blog). Saw them at HortPark, the plants are used as vertical garden, very pretty I must say.Btw, my sons walked to school- primary and secondary. The big school was a new school, the original was smaller. It took over my son's ex- primary school premises when the Ministry of Education rebuilt the secondary school. Nowadays the schools here are very much bigger than they used to.

Hi Jama,How many storeys up was the snake found? The one in NTU, the resident also suspects that it is a pet snake. He thinks 13 storey is too high up for a snake to climb. When I was there, at the 3rd floor, residents did find snakes.

Update from resident who found snake in his apartment in a Singapore Campus.

Many of you showed compassion about the event and also showed concern about the safety of our community. Thank you.

The majority of the school officials investigating my python encounter say that it may have been a pet escape from neighborhood. Otherwise, how could a python climb up to the 13th floor of the apartment? I do not want to accuse any of my neighbors without clear evidence. However, in case you are keeping a pet (especially reptiles), please make sure that you report to the school first and that you comply with the school policy. Also, please make sure that your pet is not a potentially life-threatening creature like python or cobra. To the eyes of the owner the pet, even an anaconda would look so lovely. But please put yourself in the shoes (eyes) of the toddlers and their parents in your neighborhood. In addition, if you find any of your neighbors keeping a reptile pets like snakes, please report to the school as soon as possible.

Those snake catchers are very brave!! I know a lady in Cooktown, Aus. who sells didgeridoos. They were made by a man in the neighbourhood. She went away for a weekend and when she returned she found an enormous snake in her house. At the same time the didgeridoo maker came to ask her if she had seen his snake. Apparently it had been hiding in one of the didgeridoos!

Ok, I would be freaking out if I found a snake in my house, let alone on the 13th floor. Amazing. Oh, and I really like the photo of the plant that kind of curls into the shape of a snail. I've never seen a plant like that before but I think it's pretty darn cool.

I love the happy picture of Thomas and the parrot! Those snakes would like to have that parrot for dinner! What an unsettling story about the snake in the apartment! I would freak out if I ever met a snake!!

I also love that happy face. What freak me out is snakes and just reading your story makes my hair stood up. I do believe that a 3 meter long snake will just crawl up from hole to hole. Somebody who lives in that condominium or apartment brought it there. Happy weekend!Flora and Fauna

I saw the Magnolia flowers in Sentosa, it was blooming well during the Flower Festival there last year. Unfortunately this year there was no flower festival due to the opening of the Intergrated Resorts during the same time. I still see the Magnolia tree there the last time I was there, but the place are undergoing upgrading, not sure if the Magnolia tree will still be there after that.